Put away your spy gear and forget about trying to masquerade as a model. The mysteries of the fashion world will be solved in one weekend festival.
This November, Paris hosts the first Vogue Paris Fashion Festival. Unlike Fashion Week, which celebrates the final products of the fashion world, the Vogue Paris Fashion Festival celebrates the creative processes of the fashion world. Media moguls, creative directors, journalists,and fashion giants will come together under one gilded ceiling to discuss fashion through an intellectual lens. And while many festivals of this type are often strictly for the industry, the Vogue Paris Fashion Festival is accessible to the public.
Luckily for Americans, several panels will even be held in English. Highlights include:
New Challenges for Designer Brands (Friday @ 5pm-5:45pm, in French)
Partner and Director of Bain’s Retail and Luxury Goods Practice, Marc-André Kamel leads a talk about the difficulties faced by designer brands in the modern era. Kamel will be joined by Francaseca Belletini of Yves Saint Laurent, Sidney Toledano of Dior, Guillame de Seynes of Hermès, and Bruno Pavlovski of Chanel.
Technological Revolution in the Media (Saturday @ 4pm-5pm, in English)
Eva Chen, Head of Fashion Partnerships at Instagram, and Camille Charrière, blogger and fashionista extraordinaire of camilleovertherainbow.com, will discuss the trend of fashion brands on Instagram, and share secrets on how to social media presence.
Life as a Designer Today (Saturday @ 9:15am-11am, in French)
Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, Isabel Marant, founder and creative director of Isabel Marant, and Ralph Toledano, Chairman of Puig Fashion Division and Chairman of the Fédération Française de la Couture, will discuss how globalization, digitization, and diversification have affected their lives and work.
Master classes occur on Friday and Saturday, and cover topics such as “How to Launch a Luxury Start-up”, “How to Ace the Interview and Succeed in a Career in Luxury”, and “Fashion Journalism in Vogue”. Several industry experts lead each master class, which, unfortunately for Americans, all take place in French.
Vogue Paris Fashion Festival 2016 takes place on November 11th and 12th at the Hotel Potocki (27 avenue de Friedland, 75008 Paris). Half-day conference passes are €150, and half-day student rates are €50. The biggest deal of all is the €40 master class pass, highly recommended for anyone interested in breaking into fashion. Tickets for the festival and master classes are available for purchase here.
Find all practical information about the festival here.
